Big Hair, Bigger Secrets
by tillsevenohfive
Summary: Chad's life is turning upside down. His father moved out after having an affair with another woman. His mother is suffering from depression and ignores him. On top of this, Taylor still hates him and he has basketball to deal with. How will he cope?
1. Chapter 1

Chad Danforth sighed as he entered his large home. Throwing his duffle bag full of basketball equipment on the floor beside a table, he walked tiredly into the bright yellow kitchen to look for a drink. "It's Friday, finally," he mumbled to himself, relieved, as he looked through the fridge and pulled out a Vault energy drink. Chad walked to his room and set the bottle on his bedside table before flopping backwards onto his bed. He stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes before falling into a nap.

Chad awoke later that evening and looked at his clock which was placed on his bedside table, beside the still sealed bottle of Vault. It read 7:45 in glowing red numbers. _He'll be home late again,_ Chad thought to himself as he stretched his arms above his head after climbing out of his bed. Just then, his dad entered the room, stepping through a small walkway Chad had cleared earlier that week, and looked at Chad with a grim expression.

"You need to clean your room," was the greeting Chad received from Mr. Danforth.

"Hi." Chad muttered while turning sideways to get past his father, out of the doorway, and back into the foyer where his duffle was.

"And your problem is?" Mr. Danforth asked, looking at Chad expectantly with his arms crossed.

"Don't worry, I don't know anything at all." Chad said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he shot his dad a glare that could be read easily.

"Not anything you'd want to bother your mother about, that is," and with that, he left the foyer and disappeared back out the door, knowing that Chad was well aware of where he was going.

Chad rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath as he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked back down the hall to his room, hitting a nearby wall with his fist on the way. He would have never expected that his relationship with his dad would turn so cold in a matter of days. _It's not my fault,_ Chad told himself. _He was the one that had an affair behind mom's back. I'll just pretend that he's actually working late when he says he is._ He continued, telling himself that he could hold off and keep everything secret. Someone's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Chad?" His mom asked, knocking lightly on the door and walking into his room. She looked around with a look of slight disgust as she saw the cyclone of clothes, bags, basketballs, and crumpled up sheets of paper lying around the room.

"Yeah, Mom?" Chad said, noticing the look as he hopped up quickly to begin throwing clothes into his mesh hamper and putting trash into the trash bin hastily.

"How was practice today?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips and continuing her look of disgust and disapproval as she looked around the room more closely. "This room looks like a shipwreck." She muttered under her breath, still waiting for Chad's response to her first question.

"Uh," He paused, thinking of all the sprints the team had to run earlier that day. His legs still felt as if they'd collapse beneath him at anytime. "It was the usual."

"Oh. I see." She said, realizing that his answer meant the subject was better left alone. "Where's your dad?" Mrs. Danforth asked politely, picking up some clothes and putting them on their hangers that were strewn across the hardwood floor.

Chad replied quickly as he made a face at a empty pudding cup lying under a sweatshirt, both of which were Troy's from nearly a month ago. "Oh, he's at Vivica's." His eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped, realizing what he had just said.

"So then you go out behind my back with some leggy tramp?!" Chad could hear his mom shouting all the way from his room. Had the situation not been completely serious, he would have cracked a few laughs at his mother. "What were you thinking? And Chad knew? How did he know?" She yelled even louder. Chad rolled his eyes and looked around at his room, covered in white and red Wildcats memorabilia. "Of course I knew," he murmered quietly.

"Chad only knew because he went snooping!" Mr. Danforth answered, his voice rising, as Chad could imagine the look Mr. Danforth was giving his mother: a look of apology, one that had been used many times before. It was one Chad had learned to notice well, and he could pinpoint it just with the tone of voice his father was using. "I'm sorry, Susan!" Mr. Danforth added with an exasperated sigh as Chad shook his head in disbelief.

"Leave." Mrs. Danforth sputtered coldly.

"Sus--" Mr. Danforth began, but was cut off by Mrs. Danforth.

"Get your things and leave." She said coldly. Chad could hear his mother's chunky-heeled shoes trekking down the hall and into the study followed by a slam of the door.

He burried his head deeper and deeper under the cold pillow. "Great, just great." He said, muffling his voice against the pillow. When did things get so screwed up? _Oh, that's when._ He answered himself, remembering the day when he had went into his father's home office after much speculation, looking for clues as to where his father had been all those nights he was "working late." _I knew he didn't have that many patients at the hospital,_ he told himself as he switched positions uncomfortably. Chad had looked through his father's agenda, seeing Vivica's name under numerous dates set for dinner and meetings. Of course, he'd heard a few phone calls between the two, figuring that this Vivica was just a friend from college. Chad interrupted his own thoughts once more, tossing and turning again. He had finally asked his father about it one night after he'd returned home late from where Chad could only assume was his girlfriend's house. _No one has found out yet, and they can't start finding out now. Not Troy, not anyone,_ Chad told himself before finally clearing his mind enough to fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The weekend has passed by quickly. On both Saturday and Sunday, Chad had stayed in his room the entire day, leaving every few hours to get a snack. His mother hadn't acknowledged him the few times he had left his room and walked by the couch where she had been sitting, holding a picture of her and Mr. Danforth on their wedding day as if it was glued to her hand. Chad didn't care much for seeing his mother like this, which was one of the many reasons he opted to stay in his room the entire weekend. He didn't want her to ask him questions, try to console him, or to speak to him at all. Chad knew she was the one that needed consoling, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he drowned himself in attempts to finish his homework, to read, or to simple write something, anything.

Chad woke up early Monday for school. He still had all the thoughts from the weekend bothering him as he took a hot shower then got out to get dressed. He turned on some music by his favorite band, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and picked out his clothes while his waist still had a towel wrapped around it. He hastily selected a red t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and white sneakers and got dressed. He grabbed his red duffle bag used for basketball and emptied its contents onto the floor. He bent and picked up the things he needed, including his shoes for basketball, a small first aid kit his mother made him keep, and an ankle brace. Chad tossed these things back into the bag and added his clothes for basketball practice.

Chad walked quickly into the kitchen, not feeling cheered up or lifted by the yellow color scheme his mother had chosen to change it to the previous summer because "yellow is a happy color." Contrary to Mrs. Danforth's belief, walking through the kitchen and being hit by the blinding paintjob didn't make Chad feel happy or cheery at all. He looked through the food pantry and grabbed a pack of poptarts, not bothering to toast them and walked straight out the door, not stopping to tell his mother goodbye.

Once in his car, Chad turned the music loud and sang along to the music. He stopped at a traffic light that had just turned red, still singing. He turned his head just in time to see an elderly woman in a car in the lane next to him, staring and shaking her head in disbelief. He turned down the music and muttered to himself. "So I'm not as good as Troy, shoot me." Chad pressed the accelerator as the traffic light changed to green and drove in silence the rest of the way to East High.

After pulling into the school, he got out of his car, not being in a hurry to get to homeroom. He passed by Taylor McKessie, his ex-girlfriend. They had broken up one night after she and Chad had an argument about priorities, and she decided that she had other things, such as academics, to focus on. Chad had been bitter for a bit, Taylor had returned those cold feelings for much longer than he. As he quickly walked by her not bothering to say hello, he let his thoughts trail to when he'd asked her out for the second time, nearly a month after they had broken up. Taylor coldly rejected his offer, telling him that their relationship had not gone anywhere in the three months they were together and the present time was not a good time for a second chance. Chad sped up a bit more as he felt Taylor's eyes on him, a small glare she had built up in the two seconds he had been before her.

Between five and ten minutes later, Chad slid into his desk in homeroom, taking his place behind Troy and in front of Taylor. He didn't dare turn and try to strike up conversation with her today as he really wasn't in the mood to feel rejection or a rude attitude in the slightest. Troy walked in and sat in his desk before turning around and greeting Chad.

"Hey, man." Troy started, "What's u--" He was cut off quickly by the sound of Chad putting his head down on his desk. Chad never responded verbally to Troy, so Troy tried to speak to him again. "Chad? What's up?"

"Nothing." Chad answered shortly without moving his head at all. "Nothing," he repeated for extra measure.

"Whatever," Troy shrugged and turned back around to face forward in his desk.

Taylor, as always, was looking around and observing her surroundings, catching in on bits and pieces of conversation. One of her observations today was that Chad Danforth, the male specimen in the desk proceeding hers, hadn't bothered to engage in conversation with any of his lunkheaded basketball friends. She thought about it for a moment before shrugging it off quickly, looking at Gabriella who had been giving her a curious look. "What?" Taylor asked her, giving her an accusative look before taking a pencil and scribbling down some last minute changes to the rough draft of her English paper.

Gabriella gave her a look before whispering quietly, "You were just staring at Chad for about a minute. It's the longest I've seen you look at him in four months."

"So? What's your point?" asked Taylor while she was still revising every mistake on her paper. "I can't believe I made all these mistakes." She said, giving her paper an ashamed look before stuffing it back into her large rolly backpack. "Makes me feel like I don't belong in Advanced Placement classes," she huffed before crossing her arms hastily, looking disappointed in herself.

"You can stop changing the subject anytime," Gabriella said, giving her a small look. Taylor returned Gabriella's statement with a shake of her head.

"And you can stop trying to whisper, because I can assure you that it's impossible," Chad cut in, turning around to give them both a glare before turning back around to put his head on his desk.

"What is up with you?" Troy called after Chad, jogging to catch up with him as Chad kept walking like he had not heard Troy. "Hello, earth to Chad!" He exclaimed, waving a hand in Chad's face after he caught up.

"Nothing's up." Chad answered, looking at Troy blankly as if he was staring straight through him.

"Liar." Troy accused Chad. "You didn't even care that Taylor was looking at you during homeroom, then you turned around and made it obvious that you didn't care."

"I'll see you later." Chad avoided the subjectas he walked off to his next class, leaving Troy staring stupidly after him.

Chad went through the rest of his day shrugging when he was asked what was not right with him. He simply answered no whenever someone asked if something had happened, and answered yes when asked if he was alright. He avoided everyone's questions at lunch, and finally got up and left to go to, where Troy assumed, was the gymnasium. He caused the team to run extra when slacking at practice, and it was obvious to everyone, including those that knew him very little, that something was going wrong with Chad. He simply gave the guys in the locker room glares as they jokingly hinted that something was off with him by telling him that he had a bad case of the Mondays. Chad packed up his things and left the locker room to go home mumbling profanities towards no one in particular, but everyone that had bothered him that day, at the same time.

The door to the Danforths' residence opened quickly as Chad walked through the frame, then slammed the door. He looked up to see his mother looking at him. "Bad day?" she asked simply, looking at him as he put his bad down in its usual place, beside the table that held a family portrait, a telephone, a notepad, and a cup with a few pens in it.

"The worst." Chad said with an amount of anger as he stalked off towards his room, dodging Mrs. Danforth on the way.

"You know, funny thing, I talked to Mrs. Bolton today." She started as she walked into his room without knocking.

Chad looked up from his bed where he had been lying and motioned towards the door, "Couldn't you knock? And what's so funny about talking to Mrs. B.? You do it all the time." He sat up and kicked a plastic bottle at the side of his bed. The bottle moved a few feet and hit his bookshelf which was stuffed full of old issues of ESPN magazine and Sports Illustrated.

Mrs. Danforth gave Chad a very disapproving look, "You didn't tell Troy." She sat at the foot of his bed, moving some clothes aside first.

"There's nothing to tell." said Chad shortly.

"Fine, I can take a hint." said Mrs. Danforth as she picked herself up abruptly and left Chad's room, closing the door softly behind her.

"Besides," Chad said to himself after lying back down and staring at the ceiling. "What am I supposed to say? Hi, Troy," he started in a mock voice of none other than himself. "Dad cheated on mom and he moved out. Oh yeah, sounds like the perfect plan." He finished sarcastically with a sigh, and turned on the television.


	3. Chapter 3

Chad got up early on Tuesday morning to prepare for school. He slept very little the night before and tossed and turned the entire night instead. He prepared the same way he did every morning. Showering, dressing, eating, checking himself in the mirror... three separate times.

"Mom, I'm going to school." Chad yelled through her door in a loud monotone as he pushed his bag's strap further up on his shoulder for better grip. "See you after practice."

"Alright, have a good day," came the reply, just as monotonous as Chad's farewell. Chad just shook his head disappointedly and walked the rest of the way to his car, stopping to check himself a fourth time, noticing the large circles under his eyes.

"These are the days I wish I was a chick. Their makeup can fix anything like this," said Chad as he rolled his eyes in frustration and hurried down the concrete sidewalk. He threw his bag into the backseat of his vehicle before starting it up and driving to school, opting for silence instead of the sing-a-long music he usually played. He eventually pulled into his regular parking place at East High, pushed the gear shift into park and leaned his head against the steering wheel tiredly. _This is so stupid. I can't believe I'm acting like this over nothing._ Chad thought, only to being to argue internally with himself, _What? It isn't nothing. Your dad is a jackass._ He soon shook everything off then walked into the school, throwing up a hand at those that waved or said hello first. He tried to walk as quickly as possible to his locker, then to homeroom, just so he could slide into his desk and put his head down. Troy walked in just before the tardy bell had rang and sat in his seat in front of Chad.

"Are you ever going to tell me what's up?" Troy asked him quietly without turning around to face him.

"Maybe, maybe not." Chad mumbled before lifting his head to look at Taylor and Gabriella, making sure they weren't listening in. "Good, no audience today," he said more to himself than to Troy.

"They were just wondering what was wrong." Troy retorted, turning in his desk to face Chad.

"Well I'd rather them not wonder at all." Chad said, closing his eyes and putting his head down again against the hard desktop.

"Mom told me," was all that Troy said, then turned back around.

Chad didn't know whether to be relieved that he didn't have to tell Troy what had been happening, or angry because Mrs. Danforth had told Mrs. Bolton about it. He continued sitting quietly, his breathing becoming more and more even as he was interrupted by someone pecking his shoulder lightly. "What?" he croaked.

"Just wanted to ask if you were alright," Taylor whispered after hesitating as she tapped her fingers against her desk nervously.

"What? You're feeling sorry for me, too? Don't." Chad snapped as the bell rang to release the students from their homerooms so they could attend their next class. Chad's remark left Taylor looking at him with wide eyes before she just shook her head slightly and walked out of the classroom. Chad, being alone and slightly frustrated, kicked the desk and walked out of the room into the hall, and went to his next class.

The rest of the day was the same as the day before. A few questions each class coming from those closest to him, asking him if he was alright, if something was wrong, or just to let him know that they were wondering. Chad always gave them a small shake of the head and insisted that everything was just fine with him, though he and Troy knew it wasn't. He began to wonder if he should have told Troy sooner, or if he should have told his mother not to say anything. _Doesn't matter anymore,_ he told himself.

The day finally ended with the ringing of the bell as students filed out of the classrooms and quickly left the school as if there was a fire trailing behind them. "Ready for practice?" Chad heard Jason behind him. "Well, are you ready?"

"Oh, yes," Chad started, speaking in a very sarcastic tone. "I'm looking forward to running my ass off then feeling like dying. It's a dream come true."

"Your mouth makes you run, Chad." Jason said, catching up to Chad's quick pace as they walked down the empty corridor, sheets of paper that never reached the trash bins lying in a few different spots.

"That's not true," Chad said quickly. "I haven't said anything out of line to Coach since..." He paused to think.

"Since last time we had to run." Jason finished for him. "We've gotta get to practice before we're late." And with that, they picked up their paces to a slight jog the rest of the way to the gym.

Basketball practice seemed like it lasted five or six hours to Chad, but in reality, it was only three hours. They ran, practiced their drills, then ran some more because Chad was "not hustling enough." As Coach Bolton yelled it as the team suffered through the suicides, the team would have to speed up if they were wanting to win any games at all, let alone a championship. After practice had ended, Coach Bolton left quickly to attend a heads of department staff meeting in the East High library, leaving the boys to dress and let themselves out.

"What's for dinner?" Troy asked Chad as he pulled off his red practice jersey and tossed it into his gym locker.

Chad knew this meant that Troy was inviting himself over to dinner, and which was not a big deal to him at all because they often did that to each other. "Dunno. Mom hasn't cooked anything really in a while. So I guess it'll be Ramen or PopTarts. Take your pick." Chad said as he tossed a towel aside and shut his locker and locked it.

"But... She always cooks." Troy said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Well, she doesn't anymore. Let's go." Chad shrugged it off and grabbed his bag, heading for the exit in the locker room. Troy shrugged stupidly at the others and followed Chad.

"They still don't know," Troy said, catching up to Chad as he walked out of the school building.

"They're not going to, either." Chad retorted, not bothering to slow down at all.

"You're being really unnecessary," said Troy as he sped up, once again, trying to keep next to Chad.

Chad stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Troy, "And you're being really pushy, so could you just shut up about it?"

"Ramen."

Chad withdrew his glare and looked at Troy dumbfounded. "What?"

"I want Ramen. No PopTarts for me today." Troy grinned and walked the rest of the way to Chad's car. Chad rolled his eyes and followed, finally sliding into the driver's seat and drove to his house. The ride to the Danforths' was very quiet, only being interrupted by the sound of Troy changing the radio every half minute or so.

"Could you please stop that?!" Chad asked, unable to take the constant changing of the radio stations any longer.

"Stop what?" asked Troy, looking innocent.

"Like you don't know." Chad said, turning the radio off himself as they pulled into the driveway. He put the car into park and got his bag before exiting the car and walking up the path to his house.

"Basketball later?" Troy asked as he followed Chad to the door.

"My legs feel like jello." Chad groaned as he opened the door and went inside. He and Troy dropped their bags by the door. "Mom! We're home!"

"Who's we?" They heard her call from the kitchen.

Chad looked over at Troy, "Just me and--"

"TROY!" Mrs. Danforth exclaimed, walking into the foyer from the kitchen. "How are you?" she asked as she pulled him into a hug.

"Great, mom. I'm doing good. How're you?" Troy asked as he returned the hug.

Mrs. Danforth didn't answer his question, but instead, looked back towards the kitchen and withdrew from the embrace. "Dinner will be ready in an hour or so. Are you staying?"

"Wouldn't miss some good cooking." Troy grinned at her as she nodded and went back into the kitchen. "She isn't doing that bad, Chad," said Troy as he walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch.

"Yeah, she always was good at acting." Chad commented as he sat down on the couch and turned the television on.

Dinner was very quiet except for the sounds of the silverware hitting the porcelain plates as they ate. Whenever conversation finally began, Mrs. Danforth and Chad would shy away from answering questions about their family, and instead they would change the subject to Troy, other friends, or school.

The boys watched television for a while longer as Mrs. Danforth washed the dishes, blending the voices from the television with the clanks and clunks of the sink. "Troy, your dad's here!" Mrs. Danforth yelled, drying her hands off with a hand towel as she walked into the living room with a hand on her hip. This was when Troy and Chad noticed just how tired she really was. She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair wasn't fixed, and she had very little makeup on. Troy blinked a few times as he saw her figure standing in front of them, not looking the same as she always had before, blocking the television so they would pay attention to her.

"Oh -- right. See you at school tomorrow." Troy said uneasily, tossing a throw pillow he'd been holding at Chad, turning his head away from Mrs. Danforth and walking towards the door. Chad got up and followed Troy quickly, wondering what Troy had been in such a hurry to leave for.

"What's up with you?" Chad asked him quietly as Troy bent to pick up his bag.

"You were right. She is a good actress." Troy nodded and went out the door before Chad could say anything else.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Please don't shoot me. I changed the name of Mr. Danforth's girlfriend from Vivica to Tracy. Thanks for all the reviews and everything. Sorry that it took a while to update.**

* * *

Chad walked slowly through the clean white halls of East High. He looked around tiredly and awkwardly, catching Taylor's eye before each of them jerked their heads away from each other quickly. Chad's eyes slid back over to her before he had to stop staring and continue on his way.

"You know you want to apologize to her." He heard someone's voice in his ear.

"What? No, I don't." Chad turned his head to the side to see who was beside him. It was Gabriella.

"Well, let's just say that Taylor does like you..." she started.

"I don't want to hear it," Chad interrupted. "I'll apologize when I'm ready, if I decide that I owe her an apology."

"If you think you don't, you're crazy," Gabriella said, looking down at her watch. "Sorry, I have to go meet Troy before lunch. See you around."

Chad gave her a small and quick wave. "Bye."

Later that day, Mrs. Danforth had convinced Chad, after much persuasion and bribery, to accompany her to the grocery store to obtain food. "You'll starve to death if you don't go get food," she had said.

"Fine, I'll come." Chad groaned, popping in the earbuds to his iPod and walking to the car, slamming the door after he got in. The Danforths rode in silence all the way to the store, with the occasional thump of music from Chad's earbuds as a result from the volume being up too loud. Once they finally arrived, they separated ways, Mrs. Danforth telling Chad to get some snacks he wanted.

Taylor McKessie twirled a piece of hair around her finger as she paced down the aisle of the grocery store, carefully inspecting the fruit from a distance. Chad was getting nearer and nearer to the oranges as Taylor turned around to leave and saw him. She blinked, taken by surprise.

"Hi." Chad said, staring blankly at the fruit, trying to steal a glance from the corner of his eye. Taylor was silent. "I said hello," said Chad in a way that was not rude at all, but quite courteous.

"I know, I just don't want to talk to a bipolar jerk." Taylor stated then looked at her nails, which had suddenly become more worthy of being noticed than Chad's face.

"I'm sorry about that. It was just... not a good time."

Taylor rolled her eyes, "It never is, Chad."

"You're not giving me a fair chance, Taylor." Chad complained quietly as he grabbed a couple of oranges.

"That's because you don't deserve one. Ever again." She spat as she grabbed her plastic bag full of presliced lettuce and walked away. Chad lingered where he was for a few moments before storming off.

"Here, mom," he said as he tossed the bag of oranges into the cart. "I told you I didn't want to come," Chad turned on his heel and walked hastily out the door to the car.

"Chad," Mrs. Danforth began as she took her place in the driver's seat after placing the bags of groceries into the backseat of the car without Chad's help, "your dad called."

"Screw him." Chad muttered as he turned his music up.

"No, he has a girlfriend for that." Mrs. Danforth said as she started the car and pulled out of her parking place. "Anyway," she breathed, "he called. He wants you to come spend some time over the weekend with him."

"No."

"Chad, you will. You have to. He's your father."

"He's your husband."

"That's beside the point," said Mrs. Danforth. "You're going to see him and that's final."

"Whatever," Chad scoffed. "He doesn't deserve a family." With that, the entire ride home was silenced, not just a silence, but worse. It was an awkward silence that wouldn't be broken until Mrs. Danforth asked Chad to carry in the case of water she had purchased at the grocery store. Chad grabbed it uncarefully and carried it into the house, sat it on the kitchen table, and went upstairs.

"Troy?" Chad asked through the phone.

"Who else would it be?" Came Troy's voice from the other end.

"I don't know. I don't want to go."

"Go where?" Troy asked. "You haven't said that since we started school."

"Dad's place." Chad said as he tossed a pillow in the air and caught it repeatedly.

Troy sighed loudly. "Geez, they're already starting that crap? It's been like two days."

"Who cares how long it's been?" Chad asked, raising his voice a little, "I don't want to go. I won't go. I refuse."

"Tomorrow's Friday, you know you'll have to go." Troy told Chad. Chad heard clinks and clunks in the background, telling him that Troy had been stuck washing dishes again. He nearly always had to when his mother was not home; Mr. Bolton and Troy often argued over whose turn it was.

Chad threw clothes from his closet into his usual bag. "I know, but I don't want to."

"Then why are you packing?" Troy asked.

"Because I-- how'd you know that?"

"I'm not stupid, that's all." Troy laughed as Mr. Bolton had came into the room. Chad heard him tell Troy that it was time to practice basketball in the backyard. "I gotta go now. I have some practice to suffer through. Later." Troy hung up quickly before Chad had a chance to say goodbye.

Chad drove his car to his father's new house after school the next day. As he pulled into the driveway after checking the street address, he observed his father's newest splurge. Chad had thought it was Mr. Danforth's girlfriend's house, and he had just moved in. _Not as big as home. Wonder if there are kids. God, there better not be any kids. I'll shoot them, or worse, myself._ He took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car, grabbing his bag and locking his doors. Chad walked slowly up to the door, hesitating as he decided he should knock instead of walking in. He rang the doorbell and heard shuffling towards the door.

"Hi," a petite blonde greeted him. "Chad?"

"Uh, yeah. Whoa, wait--" he said as he noticed her appearance. She looked as young as Chad, maybe even younger. "Are you the girlfriend?! You're _young_."

She smiled awkwardly, "No, I'm Tracy's daughter." She stuck out a hand to shake Chad's. "Jennifer."

Chad didn't take her hand, and after realizing he wouldn't, she put it back to her side. "Oh, hi."

Jennifer looked around then moved out of the door way, "Sorry, come in."

"Thanks," he grabbed his bag and walked into the house, once more observing. It seemed nice. There were hardwood floors, clean white walls, high ceilings, and a lot of family photographs setting on tables and hanging on the walls. _So there's a daughter. Great._ Chad thought as he turned around to see more of the house, catching a glimpse of a wide staircase.

"Your room is up there, I'll show you if you want." Jennifer said, noticing Chad's gaze.

"Uh, where's Dad?" Chad asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"They're out getting pizza for dinner, Mom really can't cook. Michael said you might show up while they were gone. Your room's just up here." Jennifer had began going up the stairs.

Chad followed her as he looked around a bit more. "How much did they pay you to act nice?" He asked as they reached the room he would be staying.

Jennifer turned to look at him and blinked, "They didn't pay me." She shrugged the question off and walked into the room. "Sorry if it sucks. My brother lived here before he went to college and this was his room. It's all clean now. Do whatever you want."

"Yeah, thanks." Chad tossed the bag on the bed and sat at the foot of it.

Jennifer nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Chad could hear her footsteps geting quieter with each moment as she walked back down the hallway. He looked around the room. "Great. Love it already," he said sarcastically. The room was decorated in blue and white, _Duke or Kentucky?_ Chad wondered as he looked around the room noticing the colors, which matched more than two NCAA basketball teams, but Chad chose the top two with the colors. _Hope it isn't Kentucky._ He sighed and kept looking around. There was a computer against one of the walls, a television against another, a tall dresser, and a bookshelf. He noticed a magazine rack beside a large beanbag beside a door he assumed was either the closet or a bathroom. _Closet, _he decided. _I won't get my own bathroom here._

Nearly half an hour later, Chad heard his dad call Jennifer and himself down to get pizza. "Hey, Chad." Mr. Danforth greeted him with a smile.

"Hey," Chad said halfheartedly as he grabbed a plate and piled it with pizza.

"Meet Jennifer?" Mr. Danforth asked.

"Of course," Chad answered. "First thing. Haven't met Tracy yet."

"She's waiting to meet you. She's actually in the dining room already."

"Right," Chad muttered as he took his plate and followed his father to the dining room. _Wouldn't want to disturb their lovely family they seem to have already._

Chad saw a blonde woman, who he could only assume was Tracy. She looked very much like Jennifer, except older. "Hi, Chad." She smiled widely after wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Chad blinked at her, "I think... I'm going to go to bed now." He looked at his dad then walked through the kitchen and put his plate down. Chad quickly went up the stairs and closed the door to his new room and flopped on his bed just as the door reopened.

"What was that?" Mr. Danforth came in the room, looking at Chad.

"I don't like her." Chad answered.

"You never gave her the chance." said Chad's father, still standing.

"Don't want to."

"Chad, that's disappointing and completely unlike you. I'm ashamed."

"Of yourself?" Chad asked. "You should be."

"No!" Mr. Danforth's voice rose, "Of you! You don't come into this house where you're welcomed and act like you have been acting. Tracy and Jennifer were completely fair with giving you a chance. It was their idea to invite you over."

"Oh, so you didn't want me over yourself? That's okay, I can fix that. I'll leave." Chad got up from the bed.

His father put his hands on Chad's shoulders and firmly guided Chad back into a sitting position. "No, you won't. You'll give it a chance. You're my son too, and you're spending the weekend here. You'll be spending weekends here from now on. Get used to it." He left the room, slamming the door firmly.

Chad picked up the nearest thing to him, which was a large white shoe that belonged to him, and threw it at the door. He had hoped after it happened that his father wouldn't return, and much to his surprise, he didn't. He lied back on his bed, looking at his cell phone that had been placed on the night stand to see three missed calls from Troy. _I'm not dead yet,_ he thought. _Then again, it was only the first time here._ Chad tossed his cell phone to the other side of the bed carelessly and sighed tiredly. "Welcome to the Parkers' residence."


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not, Chad," Taylor replied to Chad, who was standing in front of her locker, where he had met her on that Monday morning. Taylor shifted from one heel to another, still digging inside her locker for a book she was pretending she had lost. "Besides," she added as a pencil fell out of her locker and rolled into the hallway, "you have nothing to apologize for this time. And just apologizing doesn't make everything better."

Chad picked up the yellow-orange pencil and held it out, waiting for Taylor to take it from him. "I know, well, no, I didn't know that, but now I do."

"Exactly. Either way, the answer is no. I'm nearly late for Calculus, and I don't have time to fool around with you." Taylor slammed her locker shut and grabbed the pencil from Chad. "Goodbye."

"She'll give you a chance sooner or later." Chad heard Troy behind him.

"More like never, but if you're going for the closest to those two options, it'll be later, thanks." Chad turned to look at Troy as he rolled his eyes.

Troy began walking down the hallway to the class he and Chad had in the upcoming period. "Well, how was your dad's?"

"Don't ask. I stayed in 'my' bedroom all weekend and didn't want to come out." Chad sighed as he stared at the tiles on the floors of East High. "And there are children. Two."

"Ages?"

"Jennifer is our age, or at least I think. Maybe younger, I really don't know, and don't care to find out. And there's a guy that's in college. His name is Brad." Chad said quickly as they walked into the classroom and took their seats as a few girls waved at Troy. Chad rolled his eyes once more and opened his notebook, beginning a small drawing that looked as if a chicken had scratched it out with it's claws and some ink.

"That's _really_ ugly." Troy laughed as he opened his own notebook and prepared to 'take notes' during class, which usually consisted of drawing block letters or figuring new basketball plays.

"Shut up. Not like yours are any better," Chad said, knowing that he was lying. The truth being that Troy really was a good artist in some senses. He had often told Chad that if he ever had a free period at school, he would have considered taking art classes. Chad always told him not to hold his breath, and that as long as there was a basketball team, there would be no free periods. "Anyways, Dad's again this weekend. Wanna come?"

"Will your step sister pounce on me?" Troy grinned jokingly as he received a glare from Chad. The grin wiped away as Troy rolled his eyes. "You can't even take a joke."

Chad had discarded the comment about pouncing. He didn't care what Troy and Jennifer did, though Gabriella may. "She's not my fucking step sister."

Troy raised an eyebrow, "o-kay then."

The teacher came in, "Alright, class, today we'll be discussing . . . " Chad's thoughts lingered somewhere else, completely blocking what the teacher had to say, yet keeping his hearing selective and waiting for the bell. When it finally came, the entire class seemed to release a sigh of relief as they filed out of the classroom, nearly stepping over each other.

"And he's completely barbaric. All basketball players are. I bet he doesn't even know what the Discovery Channel is, Gabriella. He would tune anything out with ESPN, and I'm not sure whether he scores more on or off the court. He's --"

"Taylor, I know, I've heard, can you just stop? Troy told me that Chad told him that he really likes you." Gabriella coaxed Taylor as they walked into the cafeteria. "Maybe you should just give him a chance."

"No, I will not. I can't. If you think for one second that my parents would actually like him, you're insane. I could find someone much better than-- Oh God, he's right there." Taylor had cut herself off in mid-sentence as she saw Chad and Troy sit down. "I'll just to sit with the Chem club," she said as she began walking in the opposite direction.

"You babble on more than anyone I know," Gabriella said as she tugged on Taylor's arm and stopped her. "Come sit with Troy and me."

"No."

"Can't say I didn't try," Gabriella said in a sing song voice as she released her clutch on Taylor's blazer and walked over to where Troy and Chad were sitting.

"Well?" Troy asked, watching Taylor walk over and join the Chemistry club at their table, where she received warm smiles and returned one. "Why isn't she over here. You said you'd get her over here."

"Do you know what the Discovery Channel is, Chad?" Gabriella turned her eyes away from Troy, who looked at her expectantly.

Chad looked up from his sandwich and fries that he had been shovelling into his mouth and nodded, still having a mouth full of food. "Who doesn't?"

"You weren't supposed to. Want to double with Troy and I on Friday?"

"I didn't know we were going on a da--"

"Shut up, Troy." Gabriella interrupted. "In or not?"

"Fine, she'll kill us though." Chad said as he picked up his Coke.

Chad walked through his door to his large home later that evening and walked to the living room. "Hey, mom." He greeted her then leaned up against the frame of the entrance to the room.

"Mmm," the disgruntled reply came from a lump on the couch, covered in a large old-fashioned quilt Chad recognized as his grandmother's stitchwork.

Chad had already began to shift his weight off of the wall and walk off, when he turned at her reply. "Something wrong?"

Another low mumble and grunt came from Mrs. Danforth. "I'm going to take a nap," she said unclearly as she stood and wrapped the quilt around her. "Order pizza for dinner if you're hungry."

Chad gazed as his mother left, walking away with her hair in a sloppy up-do and dressed in her gym sweats. He had not seen her this unkept and messy since she had the flu two years ago. Finally blinking, he decided to walk to her door, giving it a small knock.

"Mmm?" he heard coming from inside the room, instead of a commenting grunt, it was a curious and questioning one.

"What kind of pizza do you want, Mom?" Chad ignored her disinterest.

"Not hungry." She answered promptly.

Chad walked back to his room, calling to order a pizza. "Yeah, it's 542 Morgan Avenue, thanks." He closed his phone then reopened it a few seconds later, dialing a familiar number. "Troy," he started, "something's wrong with mom."


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't want to pick out the movies," Troy complained as he walked into Mr. Danforth's house with Chad. "Can I stay here?"

"No, you can't." Chad answered shortly.

"Don't get mad at me just because Taylor refused to go to the movies at all. Or any kind of date for that matter. She didn't even know it was a date, I swear." Troy said in one breath before inhaling and exhaling deeply.

"Do you really want to stay here with them?" Chad asked as he led the way up the stairs and to the blue and white decorated room in which was called his. He was avoiding the subject of Taylor and her rejection when she wasn't aware that he, Troy, and Gabriella had plotted for a set-up.

Troy threw his duffle bag against the closet door, picked up Chad's television remote and used it to turn on the television and switch through channels. "I'll just stay up here and watch TV anyways."

"Whatever," Chad rolled his eyes. "You'll see how bad they really are. Oh, and if Jennifer comes, just…try not to be too rude or whatever. Dad says I should be respectful or something."

"Mmhmm," Troy managed to sound, not removing his gaze from the basketball game on the screen. Chad rolled his eyes before picking up his keys and leaving the room, going down the stairs, and out the door to his car. He got in and started the car, turned the music loud, then began his ride to the movie store.

"Romeo and Juliet… When Harry Met Sally… Kate and Leopold… Tristan and Isolde…" Taylor McKessie walked up and down the aisle at the movie store, swinging her keyring around her forefinger while mumbling movie titles to herself, "Aren't there any good movies here?"

Chad walked into the store, nodding towards a couple of the employees he recognized from school. He walked down an aisle near the back of the store labeled "Action" as he scanned through movies. As he looked to another aisle not far from his own, he noticed a familiar figure. _Shit, it's Taylor. _He thought as he moved through the movies, trying to look very interested and intrigued by each title and description.

"Screw Romance." Taylor rolled her eyes as she made her way into a different genre. "Who wants to watch a sappy love film on a Friday anyways?" Chad looked sideways at Taylor as she neared him, finally lifting her gaze to recognize Chad. "I was not just talking to myself. I was…" she started as she felt in her blazer pocket for her cell phone and pointed to it, "my phone. That's it. I was talking to Gabriella."

Chad, who had been trying to force his gaze on the back of a DVD case, looked up and gave Taylor a small smile. "You know that they say the first sign you're going crazy is talking to yourself. At least you didn't answer yourself, though."

"Yeah, well," Taylor said, taking a breath, "whatever." She walked past Chad as if he were no longer there, and began looking through movies.

Chad raised an eyebrow, then turned on a heel to look at her. "Bipolar?"

"Never quite made that one official." Taylor snapped. "But then again, I don't attend a shrink regularly." She picked up another DVD case after replacing the one she had previously held on the shelf.

Chad rolled his eyes as he walked down the aisle a small way toward Taylor, tripping over a loose throw rug and knocking Taylor down, too, in the process. "I… uh…" Chad began as he looked Taylor in the eyes, not bothering to move an inch, but instead, slowly advanced his lips towards Taylor's.

Taylor, temporarily unable to move, closed her eyes as Chad's lips touched hers, then realized what she was doing. She jerked her head away quickly from Chad's. "No," she said simply.

Chad fumbled around a bit as he moved off of Taylor, standing back up and holding his hand out for her to take. Taylor refused his hand, and instead helped herself up, brushing off her clothes. Chad scratched the back of his neck. "Troy… I should… I don't think I want any movies."

Taylor looked away from Chad, "And I don't want any of…" she trailed off as she gestured towards Chad, making it apparent to him that the kiss had been a definite mistake. With one last shaky breath and a glare Chad felt was forced, Taylor turned and walked away towards the back of the store. "Wrong way," she said hastily as she turned and strode past Chad then left the store emptyhanded.

Chad drove slowly back to his dad's house. He found himself asking questions like, "What the hell happened back there?" and "God, what was I thinking?" aloud as he made his way into the house and up to his room.

"Where are the movies?" Troy asked as Chad plopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Troy threw the game controller at the television as he turned off the PlayStation console. "I didn't want to win anyway!" He shouted at the game as if it were a person.

"I didn't get any movies." Chad said in a monotone. "Taylor was there. She was alone looking for movies. I had to be stupid and trip. And then I…" Chad trailed off in his choppy sentences. "Nevermind."

"I know that look. You kissed her." Troy said as he brought himself to his feet from the floor and leaned against the wall. "How the hell do you kiss someone at the movie place?"

Chad breathed deeply as if collecting his thoughts, "I've been asking myself that since I left."

**A/N: Don't shoot me. I know it's short and the kiss was… awkward. I think this is my least favorite chapter, but bear with me. And I know you guys probably hate author's notes because I do too sometimes. SORRY, ILY ANYWAY.**


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